Hecus XRS announces the launch of S3-Micro, a high-definition, compact X-ray camera system for nanostructure analytics in biomedicine, pharmaceutics, food and drug, new materials, and consumer safety
S3-Micro is described as a breakthrough development of the well-established Hecus System3 family of X-ray cameras.
The point-focussing X-ray optics incorporated to S3-Micro achieve a dramatically enhanced resolution and precision in small- and wide-angle X-ray (SWAXS) measurements as compared to conventional instruments.
The technical novelty lies in the high-brilliance X-ray beam delivery system Genix by Xenocs (Grenoble) and its integration with the high-definition camera and detection modules developed by Hecus.
The instrument is extremely compact, it requires less than 1m2 bench space, yet it provides an optical precision so far achievable only at large installations, such as rotating-anode or synchrotron beam-lines.
Professor Laggner, managing director of Hecus X-Ray Systems and of the IBN, Austrian Academy of Sciences, where the scientific groundwork was done, states: " This is a critical milestone along the way to turn technology into solutions.
"It will turn the specialist pioneer's age of X-ray small-angle scattering (SAXS) - started in Graz half a century ago with the famous Kratky camera - into a period where practitioners and engineers use the method routinely, rather than scientists discussing the methodological intricacies".
S3-Micro is powered by Genix a high brilliance X-ray beam delivery system that uses a low power 50Watts micro focus source, as compared to the several kilowatts needed for customary X-ray generators (or megawatts at synchrotrons), most of which had to be cooled away at high costs, also to the environment.
Thus the enhanced optical quality is achieved by a technology that at the same time reduces the energy consumption one-hundred-fold.
In addition, the small size and power consumption make it easy to incorporate S3-Micro into mobile, battery-powered test stations.
Another major advantage for the user of S3-Micro lies in the fact that the measured X-ray results are free of optical distortions and readily available for quality assessment.
So far, with the widely used line-focussing optics X-ray optics, mathematical corrections were necessary which have often required specialist intervention and deterred potential users.
This decisively enhances the potential for precise validation, laboratory automatisation and applications in real-time, on-line process control.
Hecus XRS is a leading developer and supplier of X-ray analytical tools for research and industry.
Founded in 1992, Hecus XRS have been specialising in instruments for X-ray small- and wide-angle scattering, and in 2005 have taken over the product branch of X-ray position sensitive detectors from M Braun, Garchning, Germany.
The customer base includes a world-wide range of industries, public and academic research institutions in all fields, where nanostructure analytics are critical for product quality.
Through its close cooperation in development with the Institute of Biophysics and Nanosystems Research (IBN), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Hecus XRS has a strategic position in research and innovation.
